Forum Discussion
Finding Possible Matches to a Solution
(a) I'm sure it's possible. In fact, given the experience of frequently seeing multiple solutions to the posed question of "How to get from A to B?" I suspect there are at least two or three ways to get there.
(b) however, I'd like to ask you to give a little more clarity, and maybe expansiveness, to your question before attempting to provide what probably would be one of the more simplistic solutions. The following questions are ones that occur to me, but think of them as only priming the pump.
- Your example uses only factors of 5 in the list of "raw materials" Is that always going to be the case, or in the real work--presuming this is actually just a model of something more challenging you're actually seeking to solve--might the raw materials, the building blocks, be drawn from more random sets of numbers?
- Or from prime numbers only? Or some other defined set?
- Can a number be used more than once? Would a legitimate answer to your example be 20 20 or 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 or 10 20 10 etc.?
I'm asking these questions in part to make the point that one of the most important tasks in designing a good spreadsheet is developing a clear and comprehensive (within reason) definition of the purpose and constraints before starting to select functions and write formulas. You've defined a purpose, but left constraints to the imagination.